Big Eyes & Deep Dimples

A Little Song and Dance

Blue Eyes & Cream Cheese Lips

Christmas Tree

Wes and I have been debating about if and when we were going to put up our Christmas tree this year. You see, since Vivian and Gavin are in a "I-want-to-touch-everything-and-I-don't-give-a-damn-about-what-you-say-or-do-to-me" phase, we were a little reluctant to put up a tree. Well, after careful consideration and many discussions about the matter, we decided to do a table-top tree this year. This way, we would still get a tree and our two little hellions, I mean children, wouldn't destroy it.

First is the traditional photo of Wes and I putting on the first ornament.

And here's the finished product:

Playtime

Faculty Holiday Party

Last night was the JMU faculty holiday party. Unfortunately, Wes had to work and couldn't make it. I decided to take the challenge of going at it alone with Gavin and Vivian. I know, what was I thinking?!?! I asked one of my colleagues, Alison, if she would be willing to co-parent with me. She agreed and we headed over to the party around 5pm. When we first arrived, Gavin and Vivian were a bit unsure about the whole situation. They stood right next to me while I sat on the couch. People were talking to them and they would act shy. This lasted all of 4 minutes. They quickly became comfortable with everyone. Almost too comfortable at times. Sadly, Alison and I were so busy chasing them around the house that we didn't get to take any photos. 

Highlights of the evening included:

• Vivian and Gavin "hi-fiving" with Clayton (one of my co-workers) and a few other random people.
• Gavin walking up to people who were in conversations with others, offering his sippy cup to them, and then snatching it away before they could get close to it.
• Vivian eating more than Gavin, which is completely unheard of! Gavin was just too busy to eat.
• Gavin hearing Vivian cry in another room and running towards her.
• Alison carrying Vivian around with a paper cup full of plain spaghetti noodles. Vivian carried that cup around the rest of the night and all the way home.
• Gavin sitting on the steps to take a rest from running a muck. 
• Vivian leaving her hair in a ponytail the entire 2 hours.
• Gavin wanting to go up and down the stairs repeatedly.
• Vivian waving to people, even when they were right next to her.
• Gavin doing his warrior yell while running from room to room.
• Vivian signing "thank you" when someone called her beautiful (after being prompted by me of course)
• Gavin trying to feed Toni (another co-worker) his piece of bread.
• Both of the letting other people pick them up. They fussed a little bit, but overall, they did really well with strangers holding them.
• Alison patiently following one or both of them around. Thank you Alison!
• Another little girl who was there, Ava, calling Gavin and Vivian "babies" even though she is only 2 months older than them. Too cute!
• Vivian and Gavin being asleep by the time we made it home.
• Vivian still holding onto her noodle cup while sleeping in the back seat.

Overall, it was a success. I didn't get to eat much and I don't think that I had more than a 2 minute conversation with anyone. But other than that, it was a success.

#55: finish collecting data for my dissertation

I was recently reading my 101 goals in 1001 days list and realized that I completely forgot to blog about this one. I've been done (!) collecting data for a while now. Forty couples completed my dissertation's sexual communication skill training program. Some couples finished in a timely manner (THANK YOU!!) and others took their sweet time finishing up (seriously, a few couples took 6 months to finish!). Regardless of how long it took (which was a really long time, by the way), I'm done collecting data. Now, I need to analyze the data, write up the results and discussion chapters, and then edit, format, and defend. It sounds like I'm in the home stretch, but it's still far from over. My current plan is to graduate in August 2011, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Yo Gabba Gabba

"Yo Gabba... what?!" This is usually what people (people who currently don't have little ones) say when I tell them about G & V's favorite show on television. They can't get enough of it. They love the singing and dancing and funny looking characters. Although they love the entire show, their favorite parts are the beginning (they giggle, squeal, and point during the show's intro), the songs (especially "There's a party in my tummy"), the "Cool Tricks" segment (where someone shows them their own special cool trick- like balancing a spoon on your nose), and the "Dancy-Dance" segment (where a celebrity teaches the kiddos a 3 or 4 step dance). I think they would watch it all day long if they could. Now, Yo Gabba Gabba is a little crazy at times (really, it's kinda weird), but overall, it teaches them some good lessons and it's interesting- mostly because you're shocked that someone actually thought about some of this stuff. Yoooooooooooooo Gabba Gabba!!!

Communication Update

At 18 months, Vivian and Gavin don't have many verbal words. But, they do sign a lot and seem to understand just about everything we say. Below is a communication update for each of them.

Miss Vivian

Vivian communicates with us in many different ways. First, Vivian consistently says "pup," "mommy," "mama," "dada," "Bob" (which is for one of her toys), "woah" (which is usually said when Gavin falls or hurts himself) and "wooooooow" (which she uses when she sees or hears about something that she likes). Second, she has occasionally said "Elmo," "Gav," and "baby." Third, Vivi can tell you what cats, pups, pigs, and cows sound like.  Fourth, she constantly nods her head for yes and shakes her head for no when responding to our questions- about anything. Let's just say that Vivian knows what she wants and definitely knows what she doesn't want. Fifth, she signs "please," "more," "thank you," "all done," and "milk" several times a day and a few other signs randomly throughout the week. And sixth, she's best at pointing at things that she wants and making an "eh eh" sound with a rising intonation at the end. She's been milking that last one for a while. Why wouldn't she? It seems to be working out for her.

Mr. Gav

Gavin also communicates with us in a variety of ways. First, Gavin has a couple more consistent verbal words than Vivian including "mama," "dada," "pup," "bye-bye," "snack," "baby," "shoe," and "woah" (which he uses when he thinks something is cool). Second, he has also been heard saying, "nana" (for banana) and "dog" from time to time. Third, Gavin loves barking at the dog whenever he sees him and just barking out loud whenever anyone is talking about a dog. He can also make the sound for a pig and cat when prompted. Fourth, Gavin also nods and shakes his head all day long. He will answer any question that he understands and if he doesn't know, he holds up his hands like he can't find something and looks confused. Fifth, Gavin also signs everything that Vivian signs. And lastly, one of Gavin's favorite things to do is follow "go get that" and "give this to" requests. Gavin loves it when we ask him to get something for us or give something to someone; especially if he has to go look for the item in the other room or underneath something else. For instance, we'll ask him, "Can you get Vivian a paci?" He'll nod his head yes and then go on the hunt. When he finds it, he'll either go give the paci to Vivian or he'll give it to us.

New Chairs

We bought two of these adorable polka dot rocking chairs from G & V's school last week. They are in love. They sit in them to watch Sesame Street, they put their babies (mainly Elmo and Gaga) in them and rock the chair, they eat their snacks in them, and Gavin has even fallen asleep in his.